Washington, June 26: The United States has released an unclassified report on sightings on unidentified flying objects or UFOs that does not rule out that some could be alien spacecraft. The much-awaited final US intelligence report on UFO sightings, called 'Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena', said only one of 144 UFO sightings between 2004 and 2021 can be explained with "high confidence". UFO Sighting: Pentagon Believes Aliens Exist and They Might Have The Evidence To Prove It.

"We were able to identify one reported Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) with high confidence. In that case, we identified the object as a large, deflating balloon. The others remain unexplained," the nine-page report, released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, read. The observations made in the report have been labelled a preliminary assessment. Most of the sightings of what the government officially calls "unidentified aerial phenomenon" or UAP were reported from US Navy personnel. UFO in Ludhiana? Netizens Share Videos and Pics of an Unidentified Object in the Night Sky Wondering If It Is the Aliens or Meteors.

"In 18 incidents, described in 21 reports, UAP reportedly appeared to exhibit unusual flight characteristics. These observations could be the result of sensor errors, spoofing, or observer misperception and require additional rigorous analysis," the report said. In some cases, the unidentified objects appeared to be natural or human made objects like birds or drones cluttering a pilot's radar.

The report also said in some observations UAP appeared to exhibit "unusual patterns or flight characteristics", adding that "additional rigorous analysis" is required to further shed light on these incidents. Asserting that there is no single explanation for UFO sightings or UAP, the report stated: "UAP clearly pose a safety of flight issue and may pose a challenge to US national security."

The report neither confirmed nor rejected possibilities of alien origin behind UFO sightings. The report's language avoided explicit mentions of such possibilities.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 26, 2021 12:51 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).